Stephanie Clark is the Advertising Assistant joining the Advancement Team at Sojourners for the next eleven months. Originally from Goffstown, N.H., she most recently moved to Washington D.C. from the North Shore of Massachusetts where she graduated with her bachelors of social work and a minor in art.
She has a history of working with several other nonprofits and community development organizations primarily in Lynn, Mass. Among her favorite experiences in Lynn, she taught a group of wildly rambunctious (but lovely) fifth and sixth graders at the New American Center where she focused on advancing childhood literacy skills through conversation, reading, and art. Also in Lynn, Steph engaged in the intersection of youth, food, and community while working at the community and youth development program called The Food Project. While farming at The Food Project, Stephanie rekindled her love of land and passion for connecting oneself across difference to both the community and the earth.
Stephanie enjoys traveling, drinking coffee, hiking, and the intrinsically inspiring nature of compost. She believes that connection to the earth and to food provides a framework to build relationships across cultural, racial, gender, and age barriers.
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Hollywood's Hegemonic White Male
Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper in Mad Men. Image via Luck the Lady / flickr
The social theory of the hegemonic male lays claim to the idea that there is a particular type of individual that our culture caters to and strives to be. When looking at the lack of gender and racial-based diversity in the U.S. film industry, I believe that this is a valid claim to make.
The hegemonic male is a white, cisgender, intelligent, handsome, and powerful man who has achieved great economic, political, and/or social status. He is the ideal and standard by which many in our culture aspire to become—for good or for ill. (Think Don Draper.)
According to this theory, everyone is in competition to be the most hegemonic male that one can be. However, it’s difficult for an individual to ever feel as though he has reached this status, as it always feels like more power is possible. Furthermore, it’s impossible for women, people of color, or members of the LGBTQ community to gain any traction in this competition as their race, ethnicity, gender, and/or sexual identification does not line up with the supposed ideal. This competition among members of our culture, while not often articulated, often leaves many individuals feeling unfulfilled. It is virtually impossible to live up to the social norms and expectations set before them.